--Though he didn't want to get the job this way, Scott Brooks said his promotion to head coach in the aftermath of P.J. Carlesimo's firing fulfilled a dream.

"Nothing can prepare you for taking over for a guy that brought you here," Brooks said. "You have to experience it and it's not an easy experience to go through. I have great respect for P.J. He's a good man and his family is terrific. It's hard, but in this business things happen like that.

"But yes, it is a dream of every assistant coach to move over and run their team. It's not the situation I had anticipated. Going into every season you're loyal to your coach and your team and you want everybody to do well. And you want to be able to move up because you were successful."

--Scott Brooks is looking to add an assistant to his staff. The assistant ranks not only took a hit when Brooks was promoted, but aide Paul Westhead was also let go along with along with former coach P.J. Carlesimo. Brooks said the new addition may not come aboard for another few weeks. In the meantime, he's confident that holdover assistants Ralph Lewis and Mark Bryant, plus player development assistant Brian Keefe, can fill the gaps.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I'm proud of our guys. We talked about it three or four days ago that this is going to be a process. We're all about getting better every day, every practice, every game. I think we've done that." -- Scott Brooks, after a one-point loss to Phoenix.